Dinner with Thai Food Bloggers @ D.O.C. on Lygon

I've been extremely behind in my blogging, it's time to catch up!

Beansprout's Cafe or Ja dropped by Melbourne during the Easter break, so we all thought it would be a good idea to meet up with other food bloggers as well. We decided to try out D.O.C. Even thought it was a Wednesday night, the place was still packed! Thank god Ja made a reservation, or else it would probably be quite hard to find seats for so many of us.

D.O.C specializes in pizzas so their menu offers a wide range of different types of pizzas. If you are looking forward to eat some pasta then you'd probably be disappointed as the only other things they have other than pizzas are probably cheese tasting plate and salads. We decided to pick a few pizzas with different toppings to share between us.

The waitress that served us that night was very friendly and enthusiastic which adds to the nice and cozy atmosphere.

The first dish that arrived was the tasting plate of 3 different Mozzarella: Australian Fior Di Latte, Italian Buffalo Mozzarella, and Australian Scamoza (lightly smoked). I'm not a gourmet cheese fan, and hence these did not really appeal to me. They tasted slightly lighter than I'd expected.

Pizza San Daniele with Buffalo mozzarella, tomato, and San Daniele Prosciutto.
I enjoyed this as it was very refreshing and lighter than the other pizzas.

I don't recall what this pizza was anymore, so Ja, feel free to help me out :)
From memory though, it tasted a bit like Italian sausage.

Pizza Tiger Prawns C/ tomato, mozarella, endive, and fresh chilli
This is slightly on the spicy side, which added another dimension to the meal.

Pizza al Porcini C/ wild mushrooms, truffle oil, and morzarella in bianco
I think this is one of my favorite pizzas compared to the rest as I could really taste the truffle oil.

Pizza Capricciosa Nuova C/tomato, leg ham, mushroom, artichoke, and olives.

Rich Tiramusu!

Gelato, these were nice!

My favorite dessert for the night! The chocolate pizza!

I think it's a pizza dough topped with caramelized white chocolate, strawberries, and vanilla icecream drizzled with chocolate if I remembered correctly. This was simple, yet tasty. Definitely better than Max Brenner's Chocolate Pizza.

Overall, it was a great night to catch up with other fellow food bloggers, try new dishes, discuss about food, and take pictures of food as if there were no tomorrow! Their pizzas were not bad, however they did not give me the 'wow' factor. Their desserts, on the other hand, would probably be bringing me back!

Dinner @ Melbourne Hwaro Korean BBQ

After my friend asked me if I were interested in this Korean BBQ restaurant that's supposedly the best in Melbourne, I did not hesitate to join! When I arrive there, the atmosphere just screamed 'authentic Korean food' to me, and judging by the amount of Koreans queuing up for the seats, I'm sure they would also agree.

I was quite fascinated by the whole BBQ with the top ventilator set up. I have seen them in Bangkok and Korea, but not many Korean BBQ restaurant in Melbourne offered these things (Well, at least not the ones I've been to). The waiters were quite friendly, but the service was quite slow as the whole restaurant was extremely packed. Booking is definitely a must if you want to try this place out!

Eating at Melbourne Hwaro Korean BBQ gave me a slightly different touch to the whole Korean food experience as this restaurant offers slightly different side dishes. I do recommend their Seafood Pancake which my friends and I demolished in 30 seconds of it landing on the table. Do not forget to dip it into the accompanying dipping sauce when eating!

They also have this button for customers to press if they need assistance from the waiters/waitresses but I did not end up trying it. If anyone has tried it, you can tell me whether it really works.

Spicy Kimchi soup with Tofu

They also offered lettuce to eat with the Bulgogi which some other Korean restaurants in Melbourne lacked of! The rice was slightly different as well as it was a mixture of unbleached /bleached rice which made me feel less guilty

one of the many interesting side dishes

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience at Melbourne Hwaro Korean BBQ and would definitely go back again!

My First attempt at Hot Cross Bun

It's Easter holiday here in Melbourne and I always see advertisements for hot cross buns in almost all bakeries which inspired me to try my hands on hot cross buns. I got my recipe from taste.com.au but modified the recipe to use chocolate chips instead of the currants to suit my friends' taste buds.

I was not that satisfied with the results of my hot cross buns as I thought it tasted a bit bland even though I've added extra spices that asked for in the original recipe. If anyone else have a really good recipe for Hot Cross Bun, please do share them with me :)